


Side Effects of Death

by minisculecosmos



Series: Life Post-Mortem and Other Misadventures [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: BAMF Minerva McGonagall, Doctor Who?, Expect all of them, Eyewitness anyone?, F/M, Gen, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, Master of Death (Harry Potter), Multi, Semi-linear storytelling, Sherlock?, but it might still do that we'll see, just wait, let me know, many fandom references are to come, no archive warnings listed but there will be death, not meant to be a tear jerker, so here's your warning, though i'm debating if I should include a really old BBC Merlin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:53:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24300895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/minisculecosmos/pseuds/minisculecosmos
Summary: Everyone dies. But few live to tell the tale.Harry Potter just wanted to live in relative peace after the war. But how does one accomplish that when the past, quite literally, haunts you?Or, an eighth year drarry fic combined with a non-typical Master of Death Harry fic and Harry is Done TM fic thrown into a blender.I posted a fic under the same title at the beginning of May, but it has now been orphaned so I can fix a lot of details that I didn't like in the old one- it can still be found under the same title as this one.TW: lots of mentions of death and eventually a major one of suicide, it'll be marked and I'll tell which chapter, but here's your warning now.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hannah Abbott/Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Rolf Scamander
Series: Life Post-Mortem and Other Misadventures [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1754383
Comments: 3
Kudos: 62





	Side Effects of Death

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [tell me whether he is dead](https://archiveofourown.org/works/9191315) by [LullabyKnell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LullabyKnell/pseuds/LullabyKnell). 



The battle was long and hard, but finally, it was over.

Harry stared at the maroon canopy above him, his hands crossed over his stomach. His head raced, but he tried to get his breath to slow down and even out. Despite it finally being night again, the adrenaline from the battle had yet to wear off, and Harry’s fingers still twitched every now and then, seeking his wand unconsciously. 

After the battle had ended with the first rays of morning light, he had helped Ron and Hermione track down any remaining injured wizards or witches, and bring back any bodies. Thankfully, most of the younger years had stayed hidden and safe, but many the occasional brave soul who dared to join the fight now laid among many others, forever silent. Harry had stared sadly but resolutely at the rows of the dead, and vowed he would pay respects to each and every one of them.

Eventually, though, Harry just wanted to seek out some peace and quiet. Gryffindor Tower had been pretty destroyed by the Death Eaters who had taken over the school and their vendetta against the lions, but Harry still found something calming about his old room, despite the fact that it bordered on open-air due to the broken walls- but he was alone up there, and up there it was peaceful.

Eventually, weariness got the best of him, and he was lulled into the sweet embrace of sleep.

  
  


Harry woke up early the next morning largely due to the fact that the broken tower allowed the sun’s golden rays to seep in and cover the room in a soft warm glow. Harry rubbed at his eyes, and shook his head to clear his mind of the last remnants of sleep. Slowly, he got up, and cast a quick scourgify on himself. It didn’t do much, but at least he looked a little less like he had taken a nap in some dirt. Which, Harry supposed, he technically had, but he didn’t want to think about that for too long. 

He ran a hand through his hair, and made his way out of the Tower and toward the kitchens. 

He didn’t notice the way the torches nearly flickered out as he walked past.

The kitchens, Harry quickly realized, was perhaps the least damaged area in the whole castle, save the Slytherin common room. There were the same amount of house elves as usual, but only a few were working to make more food, as many were either sitting against the cabinets drunk on butterbeer, or staring blankly into a bowl of whatever that they just kept stirring. 

Even the elves felt the loss of so many students the castle once protected.

Harry found Winky pretty quickly, as she was burping away while sat underneath a small, round table. Harry crouched down to better reach her.

“Winky?”

She looked up.

“M-” she belched. “Mister Potter?”

He nodded, and smiled at her. “I have a proposition for you.”

She looked at him accusingly, eyes narrowed. “W-what?”

“Would you like to be my house elf?”

Harry had never seen an elf look so happy, besides when he had freed Dobby… No. He wouldn’t dwell on that.

She crawled out from under the table, and looked up at Harry with big hopeful eyes. “Winky would be delighted to serve the Great Harry Potter!”

“Please, Winky,” he said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. “Just call me Harry.”

“Mister Harry, then.”

He sighed. “Well, that’s probably the best I’ll get.”

He pulled out his wand, and Winky laid her tiny hand on Harry’s. She chanted something, and a green-ish thread appeared around their arms for a second before fading. 

Harry stepped back, noticing how some of his mgic was now tied to Winky. 

“What would Mister Harry be having me do?” she asked. Harry thought for a moment.

“Breakfast would be great. Full English, if possible.”

Winky nodded, and practically skipped away. 

Harry wasn’t sure why he had decided to take on Winky, but since the war was over and Harry had decided to get to work on fixing Grimmauld Place next, he figured he would need all the help he could get. Besides, Harry missed the space that Dobby had filled, and so wanted to help out the next elf he could. He knew Hermione would be mad, but he couldn’t bring himself to care really.

Once he had eaten, he told Winky to help the other elves while he went to take care of other matters. Harry left the kitchens, and instead of doing what he told Winky, he had no real matter to take care of- not yet. Instead, he took to wandering the desolate halls of empty portraits and shades of students past.

Wait, shades?

Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw a figure colored blue-silver, run past. He turned to see what it was, but it had already disappeared. Harry got his wand out of his pocket and held it, ready. 

But a moment later, he heard the laughter of a child from behind him.

He turned back around, but still, there was no one. 

Harry took a deep breath, and tried to convince himself he wasn’t going insane. 

He focused on the brief memory he had of the shade and the laughter of the child, and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, he gasped in surprise, but also mainly awe.

Because around him, the single shade had become a crowd of students in Hogwarts robes, walking and murmuring as they walked past. Some were leaning against the walls, others huddled in groups, whispering quietly. Harry even let out an amused chuckle at one boy who was yelling at one of the paintings, whose knight was brandishing its sword at the boy. 

Harry stood, unable to move at the sight. 

He shook his head and closed his eyes again, chanting to himself  _ I’m not going insane, I’m not going insane, I know I died but I'm pretty sure I’m still alive, and otherwise how would I have talked to Ron and Hermione? They’re not dead. _

_ Right? _

_ Oh Merlin, what if they are and this is just some bizarre afterlife, what if everyone died? Where are his parents then? And Remus? And Sirius? Oh no, no, nO- _

Before he realized, Harry had fallen to one knee and his breaths were coming in rushed gasps. His face was stained with tears. 

When he opened his eyes, the shades were gone. And the hall was silent once more, save Harry’s sobs. He fell the rest of the way to the floor, and stared at nothing. 

Suddenly, the shadows cast by the torches seemed to grow and reach out toward each other, and Harry felt the temperature drop. Harry brought up his wand, the Patronus charm on his tongue, but said nothing. He watched as the shadows rose and became three dimensional, before stopping.

Standing- no, floating in front of him was a figure not unlike a dementor, but this figure was much larger and nearly blocked the hallway entirely. The black cloak floated around the figure, moving in silent and unseen waves, shimmering black and the darkest blue. 

Harry tried to say something, but sound itself seemed to fall out of existence around the figure. 

Eventually, the being raised its head at Harry. It had no face, but in the folds of the cloak Harry thought he could see a face darker than night, and as kind as a child but as somehow as cold as ice.

_ Harrryyy Potteerrr _ the figure said in Harry’s mind. Harry kept his wand up, but it lowered ever so slightly at the voice. It sounded innocent and old all at once, and Harry thought he could hear the voices of all he knew and had lost in it. He gulped.

_ Who are you? _ Harry thought.

_ Can you not guess?  _

The figure tilted its head.

And Harry had a horrible feeling that he knew exactly what the figure was. 

The figure’s head moved back. 

_ You would be correct. _

_ Why are you here?  _ Harry inquired.

_ To tell you something of great importance. _

Feeling all too much like he was having a conversation with Dumbledore, Harry asked  _ What? _

The figure held out its hands, and the ever-moving cloak swirled around it with the movement.

In one hand was the Elder Wand.

In the other was the Resurrection Stone. 

Harry furrowed his eyebrows. 

_ Why do you have these?  _ He asked nervously.

_ Take them, it replied. _

_ Why? I gave the wand back to Dumbledore, and left the stone in the forest. _

_ Yes, but that does not matter. For you are the master of the three Deathly Hallows, and only you have power over them now.  _

_ But I wanted to break the curse of the wand,  _ Harry suggested.  _ Why must I get it back? _

_ You are the rightful owner of it, Harry. And no one can take it from you.  _

_ No one? But what if someone disarms me at some point, it’s not like the rest of the Death Eaters wouldn’t do anything to get revenge.  _

_ But they cannot. For you are its owner. _

_ Why not? What makes me special? _

_ You faced me. _

_ So? So did so many others who are much braver than me. _

Death paused.  _ Maybe so, but only you proved worthy. People come to terms with their deaths all the time, sick patients lying on their deathbed, truly sad people saying goodbye to themselves… the difference, is that you were not afraid, and you had ownership of the three Hallows- not by trying, or for gain, but by coincidence and fate alone. _

_ That doesn’t make sense. _

_ Maybe not to you, but the Hallows cannot float around for so long. The risk of their misuse becomes too great. _

Like Dumbledore, Harry added mentally.

_ Yes, like he.  _

Their “conversation” stopped briefly. Harry tried to make sense of what was quite possibly the weirdest thing to happen to him so far, and accepted that the being likely still knew what he was thinking.

_ Okay, _ he thought at the figure.  _ So now what? What does it mean for me? _

Harry could have sworn It smiled at him. 

_ Now, Master… Now, you live. _

_ That’s it? _

_ Be careful, young Master. This may mean more for you than you think.  _

Harry stared. And started walking backwards, trying not to panic at how it followed him- slowly, soundlessly, hauntingly.

_ Goodbye, Death,  _ he said decisively.

Harry turned and ran.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is the revamped version of the fic I recently orphaned (I apologize for any losses, kidding)  
> What you can expect: a pretty depressed HArry for a while here. It is a drarry fic, and I have some plans for how that'll work out already.  
> What not to expect: OP Harry. He'll get stronger, yes, but only because Harry has more time than any other to do that. 
> 
> It's rated T for now because while there will be some makeout scenes (it's drarry, duh) I refuse to write any smut. Thank you.
> 
> How is it so far? Timed okay? Sorry for any info dumping. I apologize for the cringiness of the conversation with death, but I really needed to move past it to get the story started. I had like 9k words written for the story and trashed the rest of it but this, so yeah. Writing is hard.
> 
> I listen to the score Time by Hans Zimmer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgyShFzdB_Q) a lot while writing this, so go listen to it to vibe. It'll match the story better later on, I promise.
> 
> Please comment! It makes my day and feedback is appreciated and wanted.
> 
> Self promo: I've slacked off about this recently, but I have a work called "Work Comission" where you all can comment any ideas of fics you want to request, and if I reply, I'm writing it. You can comment ideas for this fic either here or there, doesn't matter, but I love to please the readers.
> 
> Sorry for the long notes.
> 
> Love you all! XOXO


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